A/N: I can't believe, I'm finally doing this. The second last chapter of "Under Attack" – here it is. It's been a long road to this point, a very long road to be honest, and I dearly hope that you have not lost interest in this completely. I also hope that you might enjoy this chapter. Thank you all for your patience and the asking for an update.

And now…Enjoy…

Chapter 38 – "Pretty in Scarlett"

The whole world seemed to turn in slow motion as the bright and eerie green beam shot out of the Dark Lord's wand. The duelling groups nearby stopped fighting and held their collective breaths.

Melina felt the bile rising and a scream travel slowly up her throat when she saw the green blast – standing for death – hurry towards the pile of bodies on the ground. She could not make out who was who appearing to be just a tangled web of limbs and robes.

She could distinguish the surprisingly sedate maroon colour of Albus Dumbledore's robes somewhere in between and the black ones which easily told her that the two boys were somewhere in the middle of that pile.

But what drove the bile up much faster was the fact that it was indeed her aunt on top of the three men.

Wherever Voldemort had directed the killing curse, it would hit Minerva.

When she felt a tentative hand on her back, it seemed to jar her back into the here and now and the scream that had been welling up inside of her broke loose.

"Noooooo!"

At that exact moment two things happened.

All of a sudden, animal shrieks rose in the air as well, though they were barely audible over Melina's scream. At the same time, the blinding green light went wildly off into the air and a slight smell of burning skin drifted towards the group.

While screaming Melina had closed her eyes, but at the gasp Severus gave behind her she quickly opened them again.

The human pile on the ground was seemingly still breathing though she couldn't be certain as there was a large goat skin was covering them completely.

The Dark Lord stood several meters away and stared at it dumbfounded as several owls swooped around the strange scene

The owls, sensing his confusion and trying to use it to their advantage, flew over to him and stared to fly around his head, all the while screeching at a pitch high enough to be distinctly uncomfortable to the human ear.

Melina heard Severus mutter: "Powers of Minerva. Athena is more like it." She turned and flashed him a brilliant smile. "Let's use it to our advantage then as long as we have it."

They started to throw spells at the Death Eaters again. The other staff members along with the McGonagall siblings joined them right away.

Uray risked a last glance at the pile and therefore was the only one to notice that the goat skin was rapidly reducing in size and that the human pile began to move again. However, when a stunning spell came his way, he had no longer time to bother thinking about it.

Neville Longbottom didn't exactly know how it happened, but one moment he was standing next to Harry Potter facing the Dark Lord defiantly, the next he had heard a "Stupefy!" from behind and now he found himself lying down in a very uncomfortable position with his nose in somebody's… he didn't even want to know what body part exactly was under his face. He didn't want to know either whose body it was. He knew, however, that somebody was still lying on top of him and that whomever it was, they had particularly womanly curves . With this realization, a nervous tremor ran through him.

Opening his eyes, he could see absolutely nothing. It was pitch-dark and oddly enough smelled like a goat barn.

Neville wrinkled his nose in disgust. He hated the visits at his uncle Algie's farm. Now he remembered why.

Suddenly, a glimmer of light came from the ground, growing bigger with each passing second. The rush of cold air also told him that whatever was covering them was lifted. The heavy press of a fist on his shoulder made him groan in pain, but the feeling left immediately. Instead a sudden rush of cold went over his back.

With effort he raised his head and squinted around. The first thing he saw, was the Dark Lord not far away caught in a somewhat desperate and therefore comical battle against a number of owls.

To the right, the battle between Death Eaters and staff members was still raging, but the numbers of duellers on both sides had grown rather small. Neville didn't dare to imagine the reasons for this. Looking down he realized that his face had been placed in the folds of a maroon set of robes. Harry was not to be seen, but Neville suspected that he had fallen underneath Dumbledore.

Awkwardly, Neville struggled into a standing position and swallowed nervously when neither Dumbledore nor Harry made any move to do the same. So out of the original three knights in shining armour, only he was left to protect Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall?

Frantically, Neville turned and received yet another surprise on this day when he found her standing behind him – unharmed – intently examining a goat skin. The skin showed a nasty black spot in the middle, as if it had been burned. The young man suspected however that it had been caused by a curse – one of the Unforgivable Ones.

Amidst all this hoodlum of fighting it was an eerie picture to see his teacher spending time turning a goat skin and running her fingers over it again and again.

For a short second, Neville thought she had gone mad, but he caught himself quickly. This was McGonagall. This woman did not go mad. If anybody did. She would not.

Still, he tentatively called: "Professor McGonagall?"

He head shot up: "Yes, Mr. Longbottom?"

The young man almost laughed. Somehow this stern Scottish way to drawl his name gave him a strange sense of security. Everything would be all right.

"Uhm...," he stammered, "do you think now is the time to … uhm…inspect this skin?"

He received a glare that made him cringe, but the witch's features softened immediately. "Probably not, Mr. Longbottom, but I am not entirely sure why this skin turned up."

Neville shrugged. "I don't know that either, Professor."

Minerva directed a long intense look at him. He did not cower before her gaze.

"Maybe, we should try to help the other teachers? Ron, Ginny and Hermione can only provide this much support. And it seems as if …uhm…You-Know-Who is quite occupied at the moment."

"Of course, you are right, Mr. Longbottom. You join the ranks of the teachers and I will make sure that Professor Dumbledore and Mr. Potter remain unharmed."

Neville nodded.

"Very well, Professor."

By this time Minerva had stepped closer to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I am very proud of you, Mr. Longbottom. I am certain, your grandmother is as well. You have come a long way in your time at Hogwarts."

The young man blushed. "Thank…"

His words were interrupted by an ear piercing screech. He shot around just in time to see several owls falling to the ground – dead. The stench of burning flesh rose in the air. Neville felt the bile rise in his throat when he realized that the lucky ones of the birds had fallen down in one piece. Others had been blasted to smithereens. Feathers, downs, blood and flesh were flying everywhere, effectively sprinkling on anybody within reach.

All of a sudden, another feeling joined the nausea he felt at the sight. Tension. Magic tension. Next to him, Minerva McGonagall was about to fly into a temper.

She quickly stepped towards the Dark Lord, wand drawn with one hand, the goatskin dangling loosely from the other.

"How dare you! How dare you killing innocent creatures! It's not enough for you to kill defenceless people now you have moved to animals as well have you. Is that what you need to do to get your feeling of power, Tom? Is that how low you have to sink? "

Neville saw Voldemort's face contort into a sneer. "Minerva, the animal saviour – how adorable." He cooed.

Although, he could not see her face, from the straightness of her back, Neville could tell that McGonagall was not in the mood to be laughed at.

However, he also realized that in her current state she might be no match for the Dark Lord who seemed to have gathered his wits again.

Stepping forward Neville tried to get past his teacher. He was unsuccessful, as her hand, from which the goatskin was still dangling, blocked his way. Feeling the skin brush against his body, Neville had a sudden power surging through him and he knew what he had to do.

At this moment, a scream came from behind them: "Minerva! Nooooo!"

McGonagall shot around at the voice of her love. "Albus!"

To his horror Neville realized that the Dark Lord must have waited for just something like this to happen. He opened his mouth to cast a spell that Neville suspected would be fatal to his professor.

But before the Dark Lord could finish, he had whipped his wand out as well and yelled "Stupefy!" with all the might the magical power he had to offer.

The blast struck the middle of Lord Voldemort's chest, leaving a small fire in its wake.

Minerva turned again at the sound of his voice and saw the powerful stunning spell had disabled the Dark Lord.

Until the moment of her death, she could not explain what happened in the next few seconds or how what ensued occurred. As if in a trance, she raised the goatskin in front of her chest and muttered: "Aegidio Medusae transformato!". At the same time she shoved young Longbottom behind her.

The skin in her hand became smaller and rounder and suddenly, she felt a metal handle in her hand. Her eyes widened when she realized that she no longer held a goatskin, but a metal shield in her hand.. A shield from which edges miniature snakes were moving back and fro.

She almost dropped the shield in horror, but some strange unseen power prevented her from doing so.

It was a good thing to, for the very next second, several of those mini snakes fell from the shield and quickly moved over the snowy lawn towards Voldemort. They reached him within seconds and bit his legs.

In a voice that didn't seem to her to be her own, Minerva yelled "Close your eyes, all of you! Now," when the snakes turned back from their victim.

Praying to everything that was mighty that the people had listened to her warning, she watched with a bated breath as the tiny reptiles returned to the shield. Leaning down, she let them move onto the metal plate again and then said "Finite Incantatum."

The last thing she heard , before the darkness closed in upon her was young Mr. Potter's voice exclaiming in excitement: "He's turned to stone!"

Well, this was it…thank you guys for reading. One more chapter to go, which has to be reworked though. So, I ask you to entice me to do that and therefore leave a review for this.